Brian Patchett: President & CEO
Shreveport, LA — Brian Patchett, a leading advocate for providing greater access to services, employment and independence for people with disabilities, has been appointed President & CEO of Louisiana Association for the Blind, an organization that improves the quality of life for people who are visually impaired through training, services and employment in Northwest Louisiana.
For more than 25 years, Patchett has been a leader in the field of health and social services, building organizations that deliver employment and rehabilitation services for people with visual and other disabilities and working closely at the national level to strengthen service organizations in the U.S. and around the world.
Most recently, Patchett served as President & CEO of North Central Sight Services, which provides programs and services for people in Pennsylvania who are blind or visually impaired and industry and distribution through the National Industries for the Blind AbilityOne Program, a federal initiative to help people who are blind find employment with nonprofit agencies that sell products and/or services to the U.S. government.
Currently, Patchett serves as Co-Chair of the national Vision Serve Alliance’s Public Policy Committee, is a member of the Board of Directors of both Unique Source and the Roads to Freedom Center for Independent Living in PA, and a member of the Lycoming County, PA Diversability Committee.
Though Patchett has worked for many years on behalf of people with disabilities, his experience is far more personal. At the age of seven, he became visually impaired but went on to graduate from Utah State University with Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Liberal Arts and earned Master’s degrees in Public Administration and Rehabilitation Counseling from Syracuse University.
Louisiana Association for the Blind (L.A.B.) offers vision evaluations, children’s programs, independent living skills instruction, job training and employment placement through its Community Services division. An affiliate of National Industries for the Blind, L.A.B. participates in the AbilityOne® Program. L.A.B.’s direct labor workforce is made up of 80% visually impaired employees. Visit www.lablind.com.
